Labour donor accused of employing immigrant without UK work visa

July 26 2010 by Liam Clifford

A businessman from Nigeria, who helped Harriet Harman with her election campaign to the sum of £5,000, has been accused of hiring foreigners to work in his London shop without the correct UK work visas.

Monday Osaseri received help from Harriet Harman in obtaining a UK visa for his wife Sandra, who had been living in the UK illegally for eight years. Harman lobbied the Home Office on behalf of Mrs Osaseri after receiving £5,000 towards her campaign from Mr Osaseri.

Now, it has emerged that Monday Osaseri may also have been employing unregistered immigrants to work in his off-license shop in Peckham, South London.

One ex-employee, an asylum seeker from Zimbabwe, claims she worked for the businessman for a number of months without being asked if she was legally registered to work in the UK. She explained to the Daily Mail newspaper: 'As an asylum-seeker I am not meant to work in the UK, but he never asked to check any of my details or paperwork. Both the other staff who I worked with were Nigerians who were not legally allowed to work in this country".

Other sources claim that Mrs Osaseri was seen working in the shop during the time she was illegally living in the UK.

When initially questioned on the donation to Harman, who he refers to as ‘Harry’, Osaseri responded, "Harry's job is to work for the ordinary people of this country. Neither she or I have done anything wrong."

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